Colifornion A. B. Hood Elected President of NLilIA

A. Bristow Hood, vice-president and general manager of the Ralph L. Smith Lumber Company, of Anderson, California, has been elected president of the National Lumber Manufacturers Association. The election took place at the close of the association's a.nnual meeting in the Shoreham hotel, Washington, D,C.

Ilood succeeds Thomas J. McHugh, chairman of the board of the Atlantic Lumber Company, of Eioston, who was elected chairman of the board of NLMA. Arthur Temple, president of the Southern Pine Lumber Company, of Diboll, Texas, was elected first vicepresident of NLMA.

Elected to the chairmanship of the National Wood Promotion Committee was Eliot H. Jenkins, president of the West Coast Lumbermen's Association, who succeeds Mr. Hood in the post. The NW'PC was established two years ago to organize and direct a nationwide campaign for the increased use of wood and wood products.

Fifty-two directors, arrd 52 alternate directors, representing the association's 16 regional associations, were elected to the board. Luther O. Griffith, Huntington, West Virg"inia, was added to the list of Honorary directors for life,

Stalf Reorganizatlon Announced

A general reorganization of the administrative staff of the National Lumber Manufacturers Association was announced by Morti mer B. Doyle, executive vice-president. The move was approved by the board of directors at the close of the association's annual meeting.

The reorganization is in effect a streamlining of the stafr, reducing the number of administrative divisions from ten to five, while retaining all the functions of the old organization. Sixteen subordinate departments are established under the divisions.

Hqnry Bahr, who has been vice-president, g:eneral counsel and secretary, has been named vice-president, general manager and general counsel.

Ralph H. Gloss, vice-president and secretary of the Timber Engineering Company-an NLMA affliate-has, in addition, been named vice-president and secretary of NLMA.

Gerald F. Prange, who continues as director of the Technical Services division, has been appointed a vice-president of NLMA.

The new divisions, along with the names of their respective directors and the departments under each, are:

Government Affalrs Divislon; A. Z. Nelson, director. Depart- ments: Economics and Statistics, Forestry, Law Information, Legislative Relations.

Technical Serl'lces Dlvision; Gerald F'. Prang'e, director. Departments: tr'ield Services, Engineering and Standards.

Advertising anil Mercha,ndislng Dtvtslon; Loren F. Dorman, director. Departments: Advertising Agency Relations, Merchandising, Promotion.

Industry Relatlons Dlvision; Harold P. Newson, director. Departments: Public Relations, fndustry fnformation, National Wood Promotion Program Development, Inter-Association Relations.

Buslness Management Dlvlsion; Ralph H. Gloss, director. Departments: Accounting and Financial, Office Management, General Operations.

Bahr is assisted by William T. Jobe, assistant general counsel, and William K. Condrell, assistant general counsel for taxation.

Predicts Rtso ln Resldentlal Butliling

With the expected advance in the general economy in 1961, the volume of residential building is certain to rise, it was predicted by Miles Colean, economist and real estate consultant, addressing the annual meeting of the National Lumber Manufacturers Association.

Colean said, "The next marked direction in the economy of the country will be up. I do not believe that those who see a recession in the months immediately ahead are reading' the portents correctly."

He added, "The prospect seems more likely to be hovering around the present high level until well into 1961, with perhaps somewhat better conditions in the fourth quarter this year and perhaps a renewed hesitancy in the first quarter of the next. By mid-year, however, a new expansion of moderate proportions should be under way."

The most significantly encouraging element in the house-building prospect is the assurance of favorable mortgage conditions, Colean told his audience. "Savings are now at the highest level since the war, and the demand for funds is relatively low. Since corporate financing is unlikely to be unusually heavy next year, mortgages will be in an advantageous competitive position. Interest rates are already on a modest downtrend and it would not be surprising to see the present fixed FHA interest rate of 1V+/o becorne an acceptable rate at close to par."

Colean, a consultant to the National Association of ReaI Estate Boards, declared, "In the past, house-building has never failed to respond to an easing in the cost of financing, and it is improbable that it will fail to do so in the present situation. The response, however, cannot be expected to be of the magnitude of that of 1954, which resulted in a aSVo gain in the number of new private nonfarm dwelling units started, nor of 1959, which showed a gain of nearly 78/s over the preceding year."

The reasons for this, he said, are not difficult to see. "F'or one thing, the response must be based on interest alone, whereas previously the easing process also included lengthening maturities and decreasing down-payments. Little room now exists for doing much in these directions. Secondly, building costs have been pushed to a point of buyer resistance. Third, the current slowdown (as compared with the years before 1955) in the rate of net new family formation reduces some of the pressure of demand."

Therefore, he asserted, an increase in the number of new private non-farm units started of five to six percent above the number in 1960 is a reasonable probability. "f believe it could be greater if the product is sufEciently attractive to appeal to what a prominent builder referred to as a'value-starved'public."

This is the building industry's problem and its opportunity, Colean said. "But it means looking inward to the value of its own product and the vigor of its selling rather tlan looking outward to major dependence on credit terms. Easier credit can still do much to turn a trend from down to up. It can no longer do the whole job."

Predlcts Expansion of Wooil-Utlllzation Besea,rch

An expansion in the wood-utilization research program of the United States l'orest Service was forecast yesterday by Dr. Verne L. Harper, assistant chief in charg'e of research, at the annual meeting of the National Lumber Manufacturers Association. He pointed out that the research is carried out at the Forest Products Laboratory in Madison, Wisconsin.

"The Forest Service has plans to expand its wood utilization research," the speaker said. "The federal government is in the timber-growing business in a big way. Our National Forests, for example, sold nine-billion board feet of stumpage last year (1959), and plans call for cutting about twenty-billion board feet annually by the year 2000."

He added, "As a producer of such large volumes of wood, the tr'orest Service has much justiflcation for taking an active part in the development of new and better uses for wood. Such development means markets that demand wood as a raw material."

It is just a matter of good business, he asserted, "for the F'orest Service to help put as firm a basis as possible under the markets for National Forest timber. This is one of the main reasons we included provisions for strengthening our research in the 'Pro-